


here in this silence

by FanfictioningFangirl



Series: Missing Scenes: The Winx Club [2]
Category: Winx Club
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Missing Scene, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Riven POV, Season 2, because i'm rewatching the animated show and reliving my childhood, he teaches her how to fight, just normal stuff, leaning towards becoming more, musa and riven talk, she breaks a wall, they're friends now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29177256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanfictioningFangirl/pseuds/FanfictioningFangirl
Summary: Riven finds Musa in the stadium, a large mop in one hand and still wearing the clothes she’d worn from the concert today. The oversized jersey and baggy jeans — an unusual combination for Musa, who usually sticks to crop tops. And yet, it suits her. She’s discarded her beanie, revealing a messy bun that sits atop her head and he gives himself a moment to watch her: hips swaying from side to side as she drags the mop across the floor.Musa tenses, suddenly. She pivots with a speed that shouldn’t catch him by surprise but does anyway, her hands raised like she’s ready to blast him with music that’ll leave his ears ringing for weeks. Then she spots him, and Musa lowers her hands, visibly relaxing as her lips spread into a smile."Have you ever been told it's rude to sneak up on people?” she asks, lowering her headphones so they sit around her neck.Or, Musa stays back at Red Fountain after the concert in 2x15 and has a conversation with Riven. Riven POV
Relationships: Musa & Riven (Winx Club), Musa/Riven (Winx Club)
Series: Missing Scenes: The Winx Club [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142009
Comments: 6
Kudos: 71





	here in this silence

**Author's Note:**

> I do build on concepts I introduced in the first part, but you don't need to have read that to get this!

He hears her before he sees her. The quiet humming he’s gotten used to over the past few weeks and Riven smiles at the ground despite himself. It’s a tune he’s heard before, though he doesn’t listen to nearly enough music to know what it’s called. Just that it’s familiar — one that Musa always seems to be humming.

She’s in the stadium, a large mop in one hand and still wearing the clothes she’d worn from the concert today. The oversized jersey and baggy jeans — an unusual combination for Musa, who usually sticks to crop tops. And yet, it suits her. She’s discarded her beanie, revealing a messy bun that sits atop her head and he gives himself a moment to watch her: hips swaying from side to side as she drags the mop across the floor.

Musa tenses, suddenly. She pivots with a speed that shouldn’t catch him by surprise but does anyway, her hands raised like she’s ready to blast him with music that’ll leave his ears ringing for weeks. Then she spots him, and Musa lowers her hands, visibly relaxing as her lips spread into a smile.

"Have you ever been told it's rude to sneak up on people?” she asks, lowering her headphones so they sit around her neck. 

“Not that I know of.”

Musa takes a step towards him. “Well, now you know.”

“Oh, yeah?” he challenges, and Musa grins. 

_ “Idiot _ ,” he hears her mutter. She turns away from him, dragging the mop across the floor. She’s not singing anymore, and he wonders if that’s his fault.

Riven doesn’t know what they are. They’ve hung out more since Musa declared them friends at the start of the new term. She’d barged into his room most days when she’d been practising for the concert. He visits her on off days when he’s bored. Riven would never admit it out loud, but he likes her company more than Sky’s or Brandon’s. He’s not sure Musa feels the same way, though.

He knows she’s awfully close to the new girl — Layla. She gets along with the other guys, and she obviously has her friends. To be honest, Riven doesn’t fully understand why Musa bothers with him. But Riven appreciates it. Even if he doesn’t fully trust it.

“How come you’re still here?” he asks, taking a nervous step towards the stage, and Musa’s gaze snaps back to him, eyes wide. Like she didn’t think he was still here.

“Well, Stella’s with Brandon and Bloom’s with Sky,” she says, crossing them off on her fingers. “Tecna, Flora and Layla wanted to head down to Magix to pick up something for class tomorrow.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t exactly explain why you’re pretending to be our janitor,” Riven says.

Musa rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t follow it with a biting remark like she usually does. Her eyes leave Riven's, and she stares at the ground, brow furrowed.

It’s with a jolt that Riven realises he’s spent enough time in her company to know something’s bothering her. He opens his mouth, a question at the tip of his lips, but Musa looks up before he can, smiling again.

“Doesn’t matter. If you’re going to stick around, at least make yourself useful.”

“By doing what?”

“Get me water? I can’t tell if I’m cleaning the floor or making it worse at this point.” She kicks the bucket in his direction and Riven grudgingly climbs onto the stage. “There’s a tap backstage,” Musa says. “You won’t miss it.”

“Why are you even bothering cleaning up?” he asks, and his words comes out harsher than he’d intended them to. He wants to ask if she's okay, but he's not sure he knows how to.

“I needed to think,” she says. “And I thought I should help after everything that went down, you know.”

Musa shivers despite the night being warm. It suddenly hits him. She's thinking about the fight with Stormy and, though she's quiet about it now, Riven suspects she wants to talk about it.

He takes a hesitant step forward. This would be the part where he offers to help. Or listen. Musa’s always doing that for him. But the words get caught up in his head, and Riven grabs the bucket instead.

“I’ll be back in two.”

She’s sitting down when he gets back. Feet dangling over the edge of the stage and her headphones on her head. Admittedly, it took him longer to find the tap than intended, but something tells Riven that he’s not the reason she stopped cleaning.

“So I found some water,” he says.

Musa doesn’t move. Right. The headphones.

He sets the bucket down and joins Musa at the edge of the stage. She turns, not startled this time as much as surprised. She pulls her headphones down, raising both eyebrows in what feels like a silent question.

“Couldn’t find the tap,” he says.

“Yeah. I figured.” She looks away from him and he feels suddenly desperate to fill in the silence. To say anything.

“You did well. Today, with Stormy.”

And, Riven’s surprised when, instead of grinning at him the way Musa always does, she slumps at his words.

“Musa?”

“You really think so?” she asks.

He nods enthusiastically. “Everyone was impressed. I think people actually cheered.”

She makes a noise of disbelief and buries her face in her hands, snuffling. Riven hesitates. He’s convinced she’s crying again, and it’s making him increasingly uncomfortable. He pats her shoulder. Twice. Then draws his hand away, curling and uncurling his fist in his lap. Riven's not entirely sure his gesture did much to help. He's not entirely sure what he's supposed to do to help.

He’s lucky Musa talks first.

“It’s just — Remember when the girls went to fight the Shadow Phoenix?” Riven does. “Faragonda didn’t let me go because she said my powers wouldn’t work well underground. She did this whole simulation — it was terrifying. And, you know, it hurt, but it made sense. So I’ve been working on making sure I could really do my thing above ground, and I’ve become so good at it. But then Stormy came today, and she  _ knew _ I wouldn’t be able to use my powers without hurting everyone. She knew I’d be useless with a crowd around. And I — you know — what if my powers are always useless? What do I do then?”

“You do know you defeated Stormy today, right?” Riven asks quietly.

Musa nods. “Because I was leading a concert and had a bunch of willing participants. It won’t always be like that.”

She’s not wrong. He can tell she’s thought it through. That this isn’t something she came up with moments ago. Riven remembers her outburst when the others had gone to fight Lord Darkar; she hadn’t mentioned anything about Faragonda’s demonstration then. Just that Musa wished she’d gone with the others. He hadn’t realised she’d been forced to stay back.

“What if you fight differently?”

“Like what?” Musa asks. “There’s only so much you can do with music and sound waves. I make a good DJ, but that’s not all I want to do.”

“No,” Riven says. “What if you used contact?”

Musa’s eyebrows shoot up. “What?”

“Project your power through physical contact instead of through the air. Like a punch.”

She shakes her head at him. Riven swears she looks like she’s trying to push back a smile. “You know fairies fight long-range, right? That’s kind of our thing.”

“Yeah. Whatever. Doesn’t mean you couldn’t try actual physical fighting. Might give you more control too.” He stands up, holding out a hand for Musa. She takes it gingerly, and he’s uncomfortably aware of how small her hand feels in his. How her palm is rough and calloused for a fairy. 

“Can you throw a punch?”

“Sure,” she says scoffing. He raises an eyebrow at her and Musa groans. “Okay. No. They don’t exactly teach us how to punch and kick at Alfea.”

“Good thing they teach us,” he says. “Do this—” he raises his fists “—dominant hand back — dominant foot too. Yeah.”

He steps towards her. “Thumbs outside,” he says. “If they’re tucked inside, you’ll definitely break a bone. No — tuck them on top of your index and middle finger — yeah. Okay, try throwing a punch.”

“At what?” Musa asks.

“The air,” he says with a shrug.

She does. Eyebrows knit in concentration. Her elbow is unsteady, and her wrist bent awkwardly in the final pose she strikes. Riven has to resist the urge to say something rude about it.

“Don’t bend your wrist,” he says. “And use your body, not just your arm. The motion starts from your back foot, that’s where the power comes from.”

He demonstrates again. She’s better this time.

“Again.”

This time, she tries to loop around, and Riven shakes his head.

“You’ve left yourself defenceless,” he tells her. “Head on is smarter for beginners. More painful too — Again — Keep it close. You don’t want it through you off balance because you aimed too far. You should feel it—” He steps forward, carefully placing his hands on her hips. “— here.”

Musa takes a sharp intake of breath. He can feel her looking at him, but Riven keeps his eyes trained on a spot on her hair.

“Try,” he says. “No. Again — Better — Felt that?”

She nods, and he steps away. His throat feels suddenly dry and Riven’s still struggling to look at her.

“Now for your arm,” he says. “Keep everything aligned. That way, when you make contact, you don’t injure yourself and—”

“Break a bone?” Musa asks.

“Yeah. Your wrist especially. That’s where most people fuck up.”

“Could I try?” she asks.

“Try what?”

“Punching something. And projecting my music through it.”

He scans the stadium. “Try a wall,” Riven says.

Musa jogs up to the nearest wall. She takes a stance, holding herself still for a moment, and then she punches.

The reaction is instantaneous. The wall cracks, not just at the surface but deep through it. He’s at her side at once, mouth hanging open. There’s a mark in the shape of Musa’s fist, where her hand made contact. They’re lucky the wall didn’t just collapse.

“Fuck,” Musa said. She’s grinning. Not nervous in the least that she just damaged a concrete fucking wall.

“Fuck,” Riven echoes.

“We should go. Before we’re caught.”

“Before you’re caught.”

And she’s at his side again, hand finding his and tugging him backstage through a maze of props and costumes.

“You’re laughing,” he says when they step outside.

Musa shrugs. “It felt good,” she says. “That was good, right?”

He doesn’t know what to say. She’s mad. Mad and full of energy, and that was a damned good punch even though she’s massaging her wrist now, her knuckles red where they made contact. That’ll hurt her today, maybe tomorrow too. Then she’ll get over it like the rest of them and move on. She's going to be great at this, Riven thinks with a small sense of satisfaction.

“What if they find out it was you?”

“They won’t,” she says. “We’ve done worse at Alfea.”

Riven raises an eyebrow. “Do I want to know?”

Musa shakes her head. “Nah.” Then she smiles. “Thanks, by the way. For this. And for getting everyone to sing along before. It wouldn’t have worked if everyone hadn’t joined in.”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure the punching thing was a good idea.”

She crosses her arms across her chest, smirking. “Why? Scared I’ll beat you up?”

“Not really.”

“Well,” Musa says, and she stands on the tips of her toes like she’s trying to look taller. Or intimidating. It doesn't work. “You should be.”

Her face is uncomfortably close to his. Close enough that if he leaned forward, he could kiss her. Musa must notice too because she steps away abruptly and averts her gaze. Then she stands straight, spinning around and, not for the first time, Riven wonders if he’s fucked up. But—

“Musa!” a familiar voice cuts through the darkness. It’s Stella. “Where have you been?" — and, before Musa can answer — "Get your butt here! We’re leaving!”

Musa turns again, her eyes finding his. She grins, wickedly, and launches herself onto Riven, prompting a gasp of surprise. It takes him a moment to register what’s going on. She’s holding him.  _ Hugging _ _ him _ . Her head against his chest, her arms around his torso. “See you later,” Musa whispers, and she’s gone before he gets to say goodbye.

Gone from in front of him at least, but it isn’t until late at night, when he’s back in his room and staring at the ceiling, that Riven realises she hasn’t left his thoughts yet.

“Fuck,” he says into the darkness. He’s well and truly fucked.

**Author's Note:**

> When I wrote [i was born to run](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28878222), I didn't expect it to get more than 20 hits. Somehow, it did better. So, after a few requests and a lot of binging, I'm here with a second part!
> 
> Riven being spontaneously supportive during Musa's concert felt very abrupt and out of character, so this is my attempt at establishing a friendship for that to make sense. And I do build on some of Musa's worries that I touched on in the first part.  
> No I do not know how to throw a punch, everything in this is from tutorials I googled. If something's inaccurate, let me know and I'll get it fixed!
> 
> If you've got headcanons for the animated show and would like to see something else with Riven and Musa, or any of the characters you can message me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/fanfictioningfangirl) or comment down below.
> 
> I got round to watching Fate. I don't love it, but I don't despise it. They could get better by season 2, but they're not there yet. I do have a LOT of thoughts though, which you could always message me about if you're bored
> 
> Comments genuinely make my day, and I'd love any feedback or thoughts you have! As always, thanks for reading!!


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